


Run Ethan!

by wonker8



Category: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
Genre: Betting Pool, Humor, M/M, Oblivious!Will, battle for Will, foot-in-the-mouth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-17
Updated: 2012-08-17
Packaged: 2017-11-12 07:54:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/488499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonker8/pseuds/wonker8
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The new Director for IMF is not about to let his Chief Analyst walk back into the dangerous field. Ethan will fight tooth-and-nail for Will to be on his team. Will just wants to do his job properly. And everyone else? Well, they're sitting back and watching intensely because they've all got money riding on this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Run Ethan!

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [Run Ethan! 参谋争夺战！](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11672697) by [ChrisBlue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChrisBlue/pseuds/ChrisBlue)



> This is a fill for [Ghostocol kink prompt](http://ghotocol-kink.livejournal.com/1494.html?thread=56790#t56790) that wanted to see a story in which the new director of IMF refuses to allow his Chief Analyst to return to field, which causes a small war between the director and Ethan. Meanwhile, Will remains clueless to everything thanks to the inept moron who's supposed to replace him.
> 
> EDIT: And now in [Chinese](http://lexwing.lofter.com/post/1d1bed87_b5683c5%20)! Many thanks to [ChrisBlue](http://archiveofourown.org/users/ChrisBlue/pseuds/ChrisBlue) for this!

It all began with a simple bet.

Jane bet that Brandt wouldn’t leave his Chief Analyst position (I mean, come on! They guy wasn’t just any simple pencil-pusher, he was the top dog! Why would he leave the safety of that job for field work because Ethan said so?). Benji bet that Ethan would be able to keep Brandt around (Hello? Did everyone suddenly turn blind and missed the whole eye-sex that happened whenever Brandt or Ethan even _glanced_ at one another?). And somehow, everything got blown out of proportions from there.

“William Brandt is a reliable agent, who knows exactly what needs to be done in the field!” Ethan said to the newly instated director of IMF. His voice never rose above a normal conversational tone, but there was a certain strain in his voice that made it clear that the agent might lose his cool within the next few seconds. “He’s calm and collected, and knows exactly when to step in or out. He’s clearly more useful in the field.”

“That maybe so,” the director snarked, sneering a little. “But Agent Brandt had proven his worth time and again at the desk, being the _Chief Analyst._ He’s a thinker, not a fighter. We need him to help us rebuild IMF back to its former glory.”

The rest of the agents were watching the argument with great interest. Well of course they were, they all had money riding on the outcome of this argument. Currently, there was an even number of people who betted that it could go either way. Few had insisted that Brandt will be kidnapped in the next following insert x-amount of time here and be used by them to take over the world. Even fewer had said that Brandt will walk out of IMF and disappear for life.

“You have plenty of other good agents who can just as easily help you rebuild IMF,” Ethan continued, looking completely unfazed but boiling with anger within.

“And you have plenty of other good agents who can join your team on the field,” the director countered. “Besides, wasn’t it your fault that he almost got kidnapped today?”

Oh everyone had heard that story. Apparently, William Brandt had gone on a short coffee break, when a Russian terrorist group had tried to take the Chief Analyst. Luckily for Brandt (and rather unluckily for the terrorists), the team had been there to make sure that nothing happened. This included a lot of ass-kicking on Jane’s part (Please, hand-to-gun combat was her specialty), cyber-trolling on Benji’s part (the Russian terrorists thought they could get away with wearing electronic communicators, which Benji wasted no time to abuse), and amazing spy-moves on Ethan’s part (What did you expect? He was Ethan Hunt!).

All the action, supposedly, began the minute Brandt was facing the barista, and everything ended in less than two minutes, when Brandt turned to face the rest of the shop with coffee in his hands. He had looked around the shop, noted the people lying on the ground and his teammates who were all looking rather innocently at him.

“… Did I miss something?” he allegedly asked, furrowing his brows in that cute adorable “I’m confused” kind of way that everyone couldn’t help but to coo over.

Allegedly because according to the cool look that Ethan had on his face, this did not happen. In fact, the coffee shop kidnap story was just a rumor, because William Brandt didn’t almost get taken by a Russian terrorist group, and Ethan, Jane, and Benji did not prevent it from happening. No, of course not!

“I don’t know where you got your stories from,” Ethan said smoothly, “but I’m afraid you’re rather wrong. There was nothing even remotely close to kidnaping that occurred. There was just the team out for some coffee. But if that’s your best source of information, I can see why you need Brandt so badly. Ever heard of fact check?”

The director visibly tensed. “Watch yourself, Hunt. I can easily reassign you elsewhere.”

“And with me gone, what would you do if IMF comes under attack? If Ghost Protocol is called into effect again? You won’t have your Ethan Hunt and his team to save the world. And if you want me to continue to save the world, I want Brandt by my side. And no amount of coffee shop gift cards or other forms of bribery is going to convince him to stay here.”

“Right, because getting him a state of the art laptop isn’t bribery. Really, Agent Hunt, you should start watching your back. You’re getting sloppy.”

“I won’t have to watch my back if Will’s there.”

“Brandt. Stays.”

The two glared at each other, clearly agreeing to disagree. In the course of the next few weeks, this kind of argument became a recurring theme around the IMF department. Except for a few changes here and there. Sometimes, Ethan was accused of seducing the Analyst. Other times, the director was accused of blackmail. Many times, it wasn’t the coffee kidnap incident that the director brought up, but new, fresher stories/rumors that usually involved a clueless Brandt as the team quickly mopped the floor with whatever bad guys wanted the Analyst.

And a month passed in this fashion.

“Will, there’s something I need to know,” Ethan said as he pulled Brandt to the side. “You’ve passed your field tests already, and you’ve registered yourself on my team. But you’re always in the IMF office. Are you going to commit or not?”

“Ethan, you know I’m with you hundred percent,” the Analyst said, pleading with his eyes to believe him. “It’s just… _hard_.”

The team leader couldn’t help but to hug the younger man, because damn it, William Brandt had the best kicked-puppy expression in the world and Ethan loathed animal abuse. “It’s ok,” he said softly, breathing into Brandt’s short blonde hair. “I know. Change is hard and it’s sometimes frightening to go into field work. But we’ll protect you. The team has your back, William. And my eyes will never stray away from you.”

A soft giggle left the Analyst’s mouth. “Not that! I trust you guys to take care of me. I know every one of you will make sure that I’m safe.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Ethan forced himself not to tense. This could go many different directions. For once, Will could call the whole thing off and become the Analyst. For another, he could very easily be annoyed at the whole pissing contest Ethan the IMF’s director was doing over him. Or for that matter, it could very easily be that Will found out about the betting pool on his decision and the outcome.

Brandt stilled. “The thing is…”

“Yes?” No, that wasn’t his heart pounding in his ribcage as if it wanted to jump out. Don’t be silly. He was a well-known spy who could very easily trick others into believing whatever bullshit that came out of his mouth. Worried? No such thing!

… Okay, maybe he was a twinge worried.

Will sighed. “There’s this ridiculously annoying guy who’s supposed to replace me as the Chief Analyst. But he’s not only incompetent, but he’ll run the whole agency down to the ground within seconds. _Seconds_ , Ethan! He keeps mislabeling the files and giving the wrong codes to the agents! Do you know what that could potentially lead to? The END. End of the US, end of the civilization, end of the world! Sometimes, I dream of throwing him down a turbine shaft, just so I can hear him scream in pain as the turbines hit him, over and over again.”

Ethan let out a breath he didn’t realize that he was holding. “Oh,” he said softly. “That’s what got you so worked up? Man, I thought it was because you found out about the battle between the director and me! Or because you found out about the betting pool!”

“… Betting pool? Battle?”

The best spy in the world froze. Did he seriously just have a foot-in-the-mouth moment? He laughed nervously as he released Will from the hug and prepared to run. “Ahaha… about that…”

“Ethan…”

Ethan Hunt had saved the world a gazillion times and faced incredible life-or-death situations with failing technology. He knew multiple ways to kill someone, the best way to seduce someone, as well as at least 7 different languages fluently. He was a trained IMF spy, conditioned to be the best in the world.

But no amount of training could save him from the look Brandt was giving him then. So Ethan did the only thing that any logical human being would do at a time like this.

He ran.

“Ethan! Get back here! ETHAN!”


End file.
